Weekend Open Thread

Three little bears sitting in chairs: one says a badge is too short, one says it’s too long, and another says it’s just right. What about you?

How long should a badge take? Is your ideal amount of time different whether it’s a weekly badge or one that costs Gems?

The weekend open thread is a regular feature here at BadgeHungry, open to comments from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening. You’re open to talk about any Pogo-related things on your mind or the discussion topic above.

For me I don’t care how long a weekly badge takes. I have 7 days to get it done. I prefer Mix-n-Match badges to be challenging (since I pick and choose the ones to buy) not necessarily time consuming as long as it’s worth the 16 gems.
Have a good weekend all :)

i dont mind the badges that take a while to complete. I think the weeklys need to be made a little longer as like this week i finished them both in about 2-3 hours then i am left with nothing to do and for the gem badges they defo need to be fairly long as i grudge paying 18 gems for a two minuet badge. happy weekend all :)

Ideally I would say a badge should take about 45 minutes to an hour. That way it’s long enough that it feels like you’re doing something but not crazy. I guess the weekly ones I hope are quicker than the ones you buy just because I want to get back to finishing up albums. The M&M and PBAs I expect to be longer. That new Vaults of Atlantis one is crazy. I don’t have one done because I get into it and miss it by one about 3 times in a row and have a little pogo melt down and go play something else! For everyone who got it – CONGRATULATIONS! You worked for it.

Well for the “long and short of it”, for me, long if we get to chat easily (un-timed) and certainly long enough for those of us matching undone older challenges to the current one and short if is Greenback Bayou (LOL) or some such! And in my humble opinion #4 Suz, I still think they made a mistake on the challenge because certainly POGO wouldn’t be that perverse, would they? (LOL again) (I just got the album yesterday so I am speaking from the sidelines). In any case, blessings of this Passover/Easter/Spring season to all my beloved BH peeps (those I have met and those still to come). Stay safe out there this week until you are back in here.
Terry Ann

Here is a direct quote from this week’s Letters to the Editor regarding the afore(almost)mentioned badge:
——-
Editor: Thanks for your letter – we are aware of how difficult earning that particular badge is, and we are looking into what we might be able to do to help with it. Stay tuned!
———–
I think my tendency to resent a lengthy or difficult challenge depends of course primarily on whether I like the particular badge, but also on whether or not I am ranked out in it. And when it is obnoxiously difficult/lengthy AND doesn’t even have ranks! GRRRRRR!
——–
I’m waiting to tackle it until AFTER changes are made. I will tackle difficult, but not nearly impossible!

Hi, this is for Pat #110 on last weekend’s open thread. This is regarding your EA game card. Have you tried entering the code again and again? If the pin code has been redeemed already it would say so. Also you would be sent an email saying the transaction was complete and appear in your gem transaction history. If the code isn’t working I sign out clear my browser history and try again. There are several links on the pogo website to the redeem your EA game card page. I use the one in the mini mall but if that wasn’t working I try the one in badge central, gift store, and CLUE episode store. If after several attempts and you still don’t have your gems then the problem is definitely on Pogo’s end and all you can do is what they tell you to do. Hope this helps you.
As for this week’s topic I don’t mind if the badge takes long to complete as long as the challenge doesn’t rely solely on chance like next week’s blackjack carnival challenge or release a certain prize in poppit. You have no control over that and doesn’t really test you skill level.
Has your chat room list disappeared in the embedded games of the pogo US site? When I did the bonus tokens for phlinx yesterday the room names were gone and all I had was the room type. The same thing happened this morning when I did trivial pursuit. I had to go through a pogo backdoor to get into the room I wanted.

the truth is, i appreciate a badge that takes a little longer to win, so i guess my ideal time would be between 1-3 hours. i really dislike those people who come in a room and CLAIM they’ve won the badge in 5 minutes or less; i simply dont believe them and it disrupts the rest of the room who may be feeling that they got cheated by having to play longer.

I prefer all badges be done in under an hour.
Regardless if it’s a weekly or a premium, I just like having a large collection of badges, so the faster I can complete a badge the faster I can start working on another one. I won’t buy a badge that will take me DAYS to finish. I did not buy the new album for that reason alone. I still have not bought any embedded game badges since it shows an uncompleted album even after completing the badge.

The changes Pogo has made makes me less interested in playing anything. I’ve finished all the weekly badges for every year so I will continue to do the weekly badges regardless of how long it takes. I don’t chat or play with friends when I work on a badge, so a long badge is boring to me. The only game I play for fun is Cribbage so as long as Pogo keeps that game in their collection, I will stay a Club member.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend. My kids are on Spring Break so it’s been a busy week for me.
Happy Weekend y’all ~
Bonny

with all the new games and badges thrown our way (and i buy them all)… i think a badge should take a max of 45 minutes to do.
i wish the folks at pogo would have to do these badges before putting them out there. this would give them an idea what is involved .
it’s not that most of the badges are hard to do, but pogo messes with the difficulty in most challenges (meaning the badge would have not been as hard to do or take as long if there wasn’t a badge involved)!!!!
people have lives and most have to work. it would be nice if we could get all the badges done and still have a little time for something else. LOLLLL

I too base it on the game. For example I loathe mahjong garden so prefer that to take 10 mins max. But for the games I love (crazy cakes, lottso, the cookie game etc) I wouldn’t mind spending hours a day to complete them.

Under an hour is sufficient I think.
Time consuming badges should be kept to a minimum.

I personally think, going forward Pogo should create less and less “luck” challenges – a certain number of times around the board (Monopoly Slots) or a certain combination on the slots reel.

Pogo should continue to keep in mind that players who have busy lives/jobs only have a small fraction of the day to be able to work on/complete a particular badge challenge. I guess it’s all about time management!

I don’t have an opinion on how much time a badge should take, my complaint is for the ones that take an inordinate amount of time. An example, I used to enjoy playing Tri Peaks Solitaire, but after their badge for winning 35 games, I was so sick and tired of the game that I gave it up. Another is badges in 2003…First Class Solitaire, you have to win 3 games in a row. That comes so rarely and could take days. Payday FreeCell, you need 5 games in a row, HA, not an easy task. As long as they are reasonable and enjoyable I don’t mind spending the time getting the badge.

I prefer a Challenge. For the weekly, I would like for them to have some sort of Challenge to get it, but not so annoying that I get bored with it. For example, last week the Checkers one was to me very easy, so to go along with it, I chose as my Personal challenge another checkers one that you had to Convert 200 single checkers into Kings, where as the Weekly one was 13checkers to kings. So lets just say by the time I was passed 100 I was hating checkers. Just seems like the challenges prior to 2 or 3 years ago were a lot more Challenging, than the ones these days. So would rather have a balance between what they are now and what they were then.

As for Purchasing the Gem Challenges, I’m very picky…I either go for it if the badge looks cute, if I like the game and if it is worth the buy. I don’t want to purchase something that says take 2 weeks but you can finish it in 5 or 10 mins. These Challenges I always felt they needed to be a much more a CHALLENGE, since I’m using gems to purchase. Just how I feel.

hi
the time it takes a badge spends on the game and requirements for that badge… does not matter whether its a daily special which are shortest, weekly challenges , premium album or mix match badges.
badges are badges….
i just reached 2500 badges today yipeee.
have a wonderful spring weekend

What I didn’t say earlier is that I buy every badge….long, short, or in between. But if I wasn’t such a badge ho there are plenty that I would have passed up :)

I’m still sitting at 2/3 on the Vaults badge. I got those 2 the first 2 days and have spent 7 full days since with nothing to show for my time & trouble. I’ve taken a couple of days off b/c of getting ready for the move.
But I’m going to try and get it this weekend or I’m going to run out of time and that would make me want to throw my computer out the window.

Holly was scheduled to go to day care today while the packers were in the house. Instead she ended up at the Vet’s….just couldn’t let me get out of Texas without another Vet bill. Both of her ears are infected, and I clean them daily. I’m sure, and Doc agreed, that this was brought on by stress. All her things are being moved around, and dogs like a set routine. I even made her sleep on a different bed last night as the 2 in my bedroom were clean and ready to be packed. She kept walking over and looking at them….I had them up on end so she couldn’t get on them.
And I had moved her favorite pillow also….bad, bad Mommy :)

For me, my HAPPY tolerance depends upon many factors, such as which game, how much time I have to do the challenges for 2 Club Pogo accounts on Wed. AM, and so forth.
I expect most Slots badges to take way over an hour, but no skill is involved ( except in the poker slots perhaps).
A challenge in a game I like– About an hour is reasonable, 2 hours is about as long as I want to play for a badge at one sitting. I don’t mind doing part and finishing later, though. I ALWAYS do finish. My husband has needed to do a few in the past but I have learned to play those games well enough to get the badges now. He travels so much, I was forced not to rely on him. :)

A badge challenge in a game I HATE- 20 minutes is about tops and is usually enough time, also. At the moment, I can’t think of a single game which I hate right now, though.. I’m sure I can on Wednesdays LOL.

There have been very few badge challenges which I felt like ” I would never do that again for anything”.
I did the Quick Quack 100 JP spins twice on the badge Wednesday and didn’t hate it, so my tolerance is high for tolerating long, boring challenges for badges, I think,

One reason I think I have a high tolerance for long boring badge challenges is that I have ranked out in all but a very few games. It takes a lot of time and patience to progress in ranks. A person who has a lot of experience with this is probably going to be more patient when doing weekly challenges, I think, since the behavior is learned.
I totally appreciate the people who don’t go gaga for rank badges though. :)

I hope everyone has a happy Spring weekend. Hubby is flying to Calif. later this weekend, so I’m trying to spend happy quality time with him before he leaves.
Take time to smell the rosers really DOES matter!! :)

#17 Bengal956 The First Class Solitaire 3 in a row, is not hard at all. When you see you’re not going to win, ex out of the room. It will save your progress. I did it the hard way in 2003 and it was horrible. I’ve since learned that the wins in a row all work that way. GL

I like a mixture. I end up getting all the badges but with the mix and match i try to wait till they are on sale. i find the older the badge the longer it is. but some of the badges can be way to short. i like something in the middle. dont mind taking a few days to get a badge i like to have a few going at time so i can bounce around and not get tired of game.

Bengal #17. There is a trick to the First Class Solitaire game to win 3 games in a row. Play the game until you win one. Play the next game, and if you see you won’t win it, DO NOT CLICK NEW GAME, just x out of the room. Go into another game room and play it. If you win it, you will have 2 games in a row win. If you see you won’t win it, x out again without hitting new game, and try another game. Keep doing this until you have won 3 games in a row. gl

I like a mix.. but of course it depends on the game. If Pogo wants to make a long challenge they should do a game with at least ranks (cough Vaults and Dice Derby). I’m really behind with badges(I’m a badge buyer that never earns most of them lol) so it doesn’t matter to me how long it takes.

I don’t mind spending the time getting a badge but when it is a badge with an unrealistic amount to obtain or the game is nearly impossible to win, etc., that is annoying. We, the players, do have lives and cannot devote enough time to do a badge as putting in a full week worth of work. The unrealistic goals that are set really need to be reviewed.

While we’re on the subject of challenges, I think this would also be a good place to discuss how long a daily challenge should take, since most of the ones I have seen are either too short (ex. today’s “2 distance cards” on thousand island) or too long (ex. “use a wildcard” on tripeaks, which they have used several times in the past few weeks. To me, they should take no more than 5-10 minutes each.

I generally prefer longer challenges that take over an hour to complete. I have a whole we do them, so even if it’s a 3 hour badge I can break it up over a few sittings. I like being able to work on a badge through out the week, not have them done in an hour on Wednesday afternoon. Some games though I do prefer a quick challenge – mainly the ones that require no thought like Slots or games that I absolutely hate (First Class Solitaire, Trivial Pursuit, and Crossword Cove to name a couple :-) )

As long as it is a game I actually have to play, as opposed to slots or Keno Pop which are strictly luck, I don’t mind challenges that take more than a couple of hours. Some of the M&M badges are just to short and since I only buy them in games I like (and can do) I would like them to take a bit more time.

Off topic, I am so happy that I can now open most imbedded games in a separate window. Pogo gets the game embedded and I get the game in a separate window, win win for both.

For me, the time criteria is the same for weeklies, M&Ms, and PBAS: the shorter, the better. lol My thrill is to add another badge to my total, so the quicker they come, the happier I am. (And, the sooner I can get back to playing a favorite game just for fun.) Specifically, tho, if it’s a game I like, the challenge can be up to 6-7hrs before I get antsy. I don’t differentiate between a “gem” challenge and a “freebie”, but If I did, I’d be inclined to demand my gem ones be “quick and easy” b/c after all: “I paid for them!” lol

I like badges that are somewhere in the middle – I don’t want it to take 5 minutes, but I don’t want it to take more than a week either. It also depends on the game – I don’t mind playing hours and hours of Scrabble or DCR, but if it’s Squelchies or Phlinx, then it’s not very enjoyable.

I also hate badges that have a ridiculous requirement and take days or weeks to finish, no matter what game it’s in. Like “earn 50,000 tokens in Word Whomp” or “win 30 games of First Class Solitaire”. The only thing those kind of badges “challenge” is your patience.

That’s why I always read very carefully every requirement for M&M or PBA badges, I don’t want to buy one then regret it once I start playing. But I really enjoy badges and love to earn them, I really enjoy Pogo for that. :)

An hour tops! I am not devoting a whole week or whole day to ONE game. Thats crazy. I do my 9 and 4 on another & help two people with all their 9 if they are Team Games (&most are) . So if people think a challenge is 2 short & wonder what else they will do during the week, just seek out people to help. There are TONS that need help & if its not a Team Game go to a room & Cheer people on .
Happy Happy ev1 ! <3

I like for challenges to be challenging lol…but if it is a difficult badge, I don’t want to have to work on it for hours every day until Tuesday night in order to get it. But I don’t like when the badges are too short, and I finish them in just a few minutes. Ideally, I guess, a badge for me should take me playing the game more than once, but not constantly.

I don’t have a preference as to how long a badge takes as long as I have variety to choose from. Sometimes I want to go for a badge that’s quick and other times I don’t mind if it takes days. That’s why I buy so many M&Ms and premium albums. That way I have 4 or 5 going at the same time and if I get bored w/one I move on to the next!

I am working on the vaults of atlantis badge, island dreams, I have worked on it for 10 days, got 1/3 so far, have 2 1/2 weeks, left and not sure if i am going to make it, lol, but i like a challenge, so i guess its alright, but by far, the most frustrating badge so far!

If I were in charge of Pogo (someone nominated me in another thread), here would be my edicts (based on 95% of players being able to accomplish them):

1) One weekly badge per three months can take more than 2 hours, up to 8 hours.
2) All other weekly badges should take no more than 2 hours.
3) Badges requiring luck or the actions of another player (like receiving a gift) should be complete within one hour. E.g. 1 exact spin, Receive 1 Gift
4) Extremly hard requirements should require just 1 or 2 times, Shooting the Moon in Hearts, 3X in Tri-Peaks, Landing on anything in Monopoly Slots.
5) If one weekly takes less than 15 minutes, the other should take about 2 hours. “Gimme” weeks are terrible.
6) No short-fuse challenges
7) No rated challenges

For Premium, same rules but add the following:
1) If album is “Expert”, then each badge can take up to 8 hours.
2) If album is regular, it consists of 10 badges, two of which can take up to 8 hours, the rest up to 2 hours.
3) No change to “luck” or anything following (4-7)

For Mix album, same rules but add the following
1) All “Expert” badges must be marked
2) Regular mix badges can be 4 hours long
3) No change to “luck”
4) Extremely hard challenges can have more, to exclude anything luck-based, which remain 1-2 times
5) Only one “gimme” badge per month, something requiring less than 30 minutes to win.

Challenges should be challenging but not snooze-fest marathons or panic-inducing sessions that you cannot stop for time with actual people in your actual lives. It needs to balance those that play all the time with those that have to shoe-horn in an hour or two a day to play Pogo a couple of times a week.

As for the length of the badges, I like an hour or so for each, as long as the games are playable. I tolerate a total of 8 hours or more for both combined. After that, I have to find a good chat room and pass the time. Fortunately, being on BH as well, good friends are easy to find, and if Pogo leaves the friend finder alone, will continute to be easy to find. I also like when the challenge is not one in a game I had just finished, as was Jungle Gin, two weeks after I had worked all week to rank out.

To Cloud, # 10, about the EA cards. I used the directions on the back of the card, which say to enter at http://www.eacashcard.com. As this was the very first card I have ever entered, I did not know better. This week, I enlisted the help of Moms/Suz (thank you again) who entered the other 3 cards I bought successfully thru Pogo mini mall choices (I will choose this in the future). When I entered it though EA, it said “finished”; yet, the gems did not appear. I tried to reenter the code a few hours later, and it said “invalid”. This tells me that the code indeed was entered the first time…Anyway, now that I have used all four cards, I am more willing to make copies of all cards and receipt and mail to EA. I have asked pogo “help” for the mailing address I should mail it to and am awaiting a reply. I have not given up yet.

I think that at times Pogo overdoes the challenge, but then it is called a “challenge”, right?? So……. what does one do, if indeed they are a pogo hound?? After the complaints have subsided, just do it! On that note, I have a question if anyone can answer it: Does game play on pogo.com count towards the achievements on Pogo on Facebook?? Sure would be nice to play on and earn them without all the annoying popup announcements on fb pogo. Just saying! lol

hi i love badges i like them to be about 2 hrs long i work long hours and sometimes 7 days straight last year i worked 84 hrs a week and 27 days straight so i dont have alot of time to play on pogo my family and friends try there best to get them for me thank god 2 more years to go then i can retire ok tc gb always april

For weekly challenges I generally prefer between 30 minutes to 2 hours. For M&M and premium challenges I usually like them to be a bit longer, since I’m paying extra for them… though I do like to have a couple of shorter ones available in each game too, because I like repeating challenges I’ve already completed and they give me ones to do when I don’t feel like playing for as long at a time. (I don’t play a game without a challenge active for it if I can help it, even if it’s one I’ve done enough times to max the tokens out on.) Of course, a lot of it also has to do with how much I like or dislike the game the challenge is for. For example, I find almost all Word Whomp challenges to be far too short and/or easy, while Jungle Gin challenges frustrate me if they take more than 10 minutes.

And while it’s not exactly Pogo-related, I’d like to wish good luck to everyone with a ticket in the huge Mega Millions drawing tonight!

I like all badges. Short or long, easy or difficult. There are not to many badges that I find irritating. The only ones I don’t really like are the ones in Keno where you need to get the shared bonus. I guess it is just because I have already ranked out in that game and don’t really enjoy playing it.

I totally agree with popcornlady, when it is difficult it should not be too long & when it is long it should not be too difficult. The other thing I think is since we have to buy our M & M badges we should be able to play more than one a week. Pogo should realize they would get more money if we can play more than one a week. Just saying…….
JMO!!! I’m just thinking we have the badges we should be able to play our badges when we can.
Angie <3

I like the Mix n Match challenges to be long and difficult enough to make me think I got my money’s worth! Although, I have several that I’m unable to complete so I think Pogo does a good job of trying to cover the majority of players with their challenges. I don’t mind time consuming challenges but some are just too difficult! I would think 2 to 4 hours is good for most everyone on the Weeklies.

I would say no longer than an hour as there are some of us that do have Jobs, and are Single Parents and have to get up at 4am, that don’t have hours to dedicate to a badge, that takes 4 hours to get. Some do have a life outside of POGO, sorry but we do LOL.

I can’t do some of the ones with time limits like the jigsaws. I have shaky hands and can’t do things in a hurry. Some just seem to take a long time anyway like get 500 frog prizes in Poppit. That takes way too long as some games don’t drop any frogs at all. I enjoy ones that don’t require any wins but just something simple to count up.

Hi all and Happy weekend! I don’t really have a suggested time amount, but I am currently working on a sweet tooth badge to get exactly 150 on the “jp” spin 15x. I think this is a ridiculous challenge! I know, I know, it is a Mix n Match, I didn’t HAVE to buy it, but I did because I would like to have some extra incentive to ranking up. I didn’t realize that I could rank OUT while attempting this feat. I have played over 200 games and am still at 0/15. Any tips would be appreciated, but I’m pretty sure the answer is “patience”. Thanks for letting me rant. If anyone is looking for me I will be in Sweet Tooth! ;)

I agree with the whole “it depends on the game” thing. Celebrate 6 birthdays with your dragon in mahjong garden is fine. Takes some time and keeps me busy playing the game for a while. The celebrate 12 birthdays with your dragon was a bit much though and that’s one of my favorite games…

I prefer the shorter badges, 2 hours or less to get as opposed to the longer ones because where I may not be working at the moment, I am still very, very busy in spite of it all. I can’t imagine what it will be like to try and complete lengthy challenges with a full job added to my current mix. Those may have to be passed up on from time to time.

***votes for Joe C to be the badge challenge picker*** But I would like to add to your list that each challenge should be separate from the other. No weeks where both challenges are the same kinds of games, like card games or slot games, ect. Variety is needed!

Hi all,
This is really a good subject this weekend,Laura. I am here daily but, don’t talk a lot in here. I agree with most of what I have read, the badges shouldn’t take over an hour so that we can have time to also work on others that we are trying to rank out on.The worse game that pogo has ever come up with in my opinion is “risk”. That is the only badge that I couldn’t get so pogo gave it to me. Someone told me that they would give you one a year. I have all of the weekly badges and worked very hard to get some of them. Also had some friends get in and help when they were rated,plus I have 2 comps so I can double browse.
But I would really like some help on “Master treasure hunter badge” in Jigsaw treasure hunter. Can anyone tell me if there is an easy way to get this badge or do I have to play 5000 games to get it. I have all of the other badges in that game.
Thanks so much, Gin

For me, when it comes to weekly challenges I’m probably one of the few that actually prefers short and quick challenges. I used to have a lot more time to devote to Pogo but, like with everyone, my life has gotten a lot more complicated recently. These days, I like to be able to relax when I get on Pogo and if I have to spend every single second of free time throughout the week working on one single weekly badge, that isn’t relaxing for me. It’s work and I’ve got enough of that as it is! lol Even when I did have unlimited time for Pogo, I loved the short and quick challenges because it gave me even more Pogo time to work on game ranks and to play games that I love just for fun. Now, I’ve started working on just the badges I know I’ll have time for, that I know will be fast or are in games I enjoy. The others, I’ll pick them up at a later date if I can.

When it comes to the difficulty of a badge, well, that’s just something that’s subjective, I think. What might be easy-breezy for me could be insanely difficult for someone else and what might be the easiest badge in the world for someone else would be something that’s so difficult for me I’ll never get it no matter how hard I work at it. So, really, every badge is challenging to someone for whatever reason, in my opinion.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend full of beautiful weather so you can get out and enjoy some sunshine. :-)

A weekly challenge is a weekly challenge. Look at the 2003 weekly they were hard but can be done.

Want I think is that when a weekly challenge is issued I always hope that pogo has checked to see if it is possible. This has not always been the case. Trip Peaks was one explain over the years.

When I do a badge I am proud I did it. But when it is a really hard badge like the Duck one was then you get it only to find out that a week later it changed for other players to get it is frustrating to the players who got it the hard way.

Once the badge is issued it should stay as it. It is a player to decide to play it or not. Unless there is a problem with the game to get badge I feel that why complain to Pogo it is a challenge if you do not get it this week you can reactivate it down the line.

I guess the time it takes is the time you have. If I do not have the time to do this weeks challenge because of comments I do them another time when I have more time.

First, Suz, SO SORRY about Holly Noele’s ears. I know how it is with long eared dogs and infections. I also know you love her so much and don’t want her traveling while hurting. We found out last week that our oldest Bichon is deaf. I had told my husband that the dog couldn’t hear, but he said ” He just sleeps a lot since he’s almost 15″. Well, NO, he’s deaf. The vet told us last week. I am using simple sign language with him, and also making sure that he can follow the other fur kids’ actions… God bless old dogs!!

Also, I didn’t say this earlier in my post but I want to offer encouragement to everyone with the M and M badges and PBAs. There have been a couple of M n M badges I ALMOST didn’t buy because I didn’t think there was any way I could do the challenge. Monopoly Slots is one of them, and I think a timed Phlinx or maybe a Battle Phlinx badge was another.

Well, I did get them done. Except for the Vaults Of Atlantis badge which I refused to do on the grounds that it is STUPID, I have done every single badge chaqllenge. And the weeklies I have done twice. Ever since there has been a Club Pogo.

I’m not smart, I’m not quick, I’m not special in any way except that I AM determined. If I can do it. I KNOW you can do it!!
Don’t back away from a PBA if there is a totally insane challenge like the Vaults one. Pogo is handling that for those of us who ask.
As long as we either try or honestly state that there is no way we can do one badge in a PBA, I think Pogo will help us out ( since one or more of them created the ridiculous challenge in the first place).

KillrToaster #53 – What level are you playing on? If you are playing on a higher level I would drop it down. I did the badge and don’t remember it being that frustrating. I normally play that game on easy. Better Luck!!

Bengal # 17 …to win so many games in a row is actually easy. If you see that you will defiinitely lose a game, end it, begin another and the one you dumped will not count. That way you will get your # in a very few minutes.
As to me, I agree with Suz…if I love a game I don’t mind spending a lot of time on it, especially if I’ve not ranked out in it. There are even a few iin which I HAVE ranked out that I don’t mind spending a few more hours on.
On another level I wish to publicly thank Songwriter Ed, aka playered, aka….?? He straightened me out last week over a badge I hadn’t been able to get as Pogo had left out a small part of the usual challenge data. I guess another aka could be niceguyed. Thanks again.

#49 papnana122739 – Angie – you can do as many M & M badges a week as you can. Pogo doesn’t limit M & M or PBA at all. Personal weekly challenges they limit. But you can do 50 of the pay badges weekly if it trips your trigger. HOWEVER, there is always a however, for say “Poppit” you can only have one M & M, one PBA and one weekly activated at one time. As soon as you finish your M & M in “Poppit” you can activate a new one and keep playing. Same with the PBA. When that is complete you can activate another. You can also have two or three M & M activated in different games at the same time. This badge ho would have a nervous breakdown if I would only do one a week.

I don’t think there’s a “one size fits all” or “just right” for everyone where the length/difficulty of a badge challenge is concerned. I don’t mind long and challenging. For me, I’d say up to six hours is reasonable (but not for every badge). I know many will disagree. Players who are home all day, don’t mind long challenges. It would certainly be difficult for people still in the work force and for people with family responsibilities to find time to do really time-consuming challenges more than occasionally.

Some badge challenges are skill-based, some depend strictly on luck, and others are a combination of luck and skill. Skill levels and likes vary widely. There are challenges that are nearly impossible to meet because of the “luck factor”. Certain challenges for certain slots games often fall into the “impossible” category. I think the upcoming Blackjack Carnival badge won’t be too awful. It could certainly take a while and there’s no skill involved in the challenge, but “Pair Square” is the easiest of the side bets . . . the one that will come up most often. I’m guessing this one will take 1-2 hours for most; it could go much faster or it could take twice as long. Luck of the draw!

I don’t mind at all if a badge takes several hours to earn so long as the challenge is realistic. I’m doing a Scrabble badge right now that requires spelling 60 6-letter words in 16 days. I generally get anywhere from 3-6 six-letter words per game. I know there are ‘cheats’ that will allow me to get the badge very quickly, but I prefer to play for real. I’m not keeping track of actual playing time, but it’s not a badge I can do in one or two sittings. Scrabble is, of course, a game where you can only play the letters you get.

I think, generally, Pogo tries to provide us with a mix of quickie and difficult challenges. I also think some challenges are so mind-boggling I have to wonder if whoever came up with the challenge has ever accomplished it themselves. Have they ever played the actual game? Or are they just pulling challenges out of a hat with no knowledge of the difficulty level?

Happy weekend to all and felicitations to all who are celebrating special events this weekend or in the coming week.

I feel the weekly badges should be fun,not so hard that you feel like pulling your hair out. Some of us work long hours,but you want to finish the badges each week. That’s why we play pogo to relax,not for more stress,we all have enough of that in our life.
Im working on a badge in First class Solitaire right now and you can play 10-to 15 games before you win one,that’s annoying.
Also some of us don’t know how to play all the games and the instructions are not always clear enough.
Vaults of Alantic is really hard trying to get the bonus.
Poof im done

To Pat #43 its great you were able to use your other cards. The only time I ever got invalid was when I entered the code as shown on the card. On the card it looks like XXX XXX XXXX with space in between.
Some sites have you enter the code as is, but pogo has you enter it without the space as XXXXXXXXXX. What happened to you is why I only buy one card at a time. It’s very hard to get your money back from these cash cards if you end up with a dud.
AnotherJan #30. I’m used to Pogo’s problems but when you can’t even choose what room you want to play in… It’s just too ridiculous!

First, let me say thank you to Badge Hungry and its members! Twice now I have been so confused by a badge and have asked questions here. The answers were quick and accurate and I got the badges right away! This is always such a great place to visit and I love getting your e mails. Okay that being said I will comment on the open thread now! I always like a “challenge” and that is why I look forward to the weekly challenges. I play from a PBA or Mix n Match along with the challenge if I have one available. Even if I have won the badge before I will still get some tokens for winning it again! There have been a few that were too long for me though. My big problem now is the “challenge” of getting into the embedded games to play. If I get in at all it can take a long time or I have to change browsers. Not too impressed with them.

I, for one, don’t mind a badge taking a few days to complete, but this months badge in Vaults of Atlantis is definitely putting my patience to the test. I have spent days and hours and hours and still can’t complete the challenge. I hate to give up but it takes forever just to get to the stairs and then the darn shark gets me every time. I hope others are having better luck than me. This is one badge I won’t be able to add to my collection. Congrats to all that made it. And have a wonderful weekend.

My sweet hubby went out yesterday and bought me 6 EA cards! Woohoo! Now I just have to figure out how to take and save a screen shot with my mac!

On topic- I am of the opinion that the weekly badges should take no more than an hour since i don’t get to choose which game its in, and especially if it is a game like lottso or DCR where you cant step away from the computer to use the facilites! Besides, I feel a little guilty on Wednesday already since my focus that day is POGO, and would rather the badges be a little quick. To family:Hungry? Order pizza!

I also hate it when the challenge is pure luck, like the ones in slots, or even some of the card games.

Additionally, I agree that the dailies should be quick. I hate it when the fb challenge is monopoly (collect rent x times or pass go x times) as it takes forever. I am not a monopoly fan anyways.

As far as MnM and PBAs I dont mind those being a little longer since we usually have a couple of weeks to finish them. PLus, I get to pick and choose those.

BTW, I love the creativeness of the BHrs that are participating in Lura’s Hot Shots! Wowzers! I like to look even though I dont participate (partly because I am not sure how to do that screen shot)

Have a great weekend! And those who celebrate it tomorrow, Happy Palm Sunday!

Chris W (jwalters1395)

BTW Lura, I always love your mini on the weekend open thread. Very cute

I’ll vote for Joe C. too. I liked the balances he proposed.
Personally, I prefer the weekly to be something I can break up into daily goals that are attainable within a half hour or so. I like knowing I have a couple of things to work on every day but also have time to play the games I have my own goals set for.
I think some of the more recent challenges have been set low, too quick to earn, however, I’m so behind with badges that I can easily pick an old weekly to go with it that takes longer.
When I purchase a M&M badge or a PBA, I look for games I like playing and which contain goals that require skill more than luck. If I can add on an old weekly or anything to it for a second goal, I do.

I recently purchased a PBA so that I could have all the Treasure Island badges completed (weekly, M&M, PBA). The album contains a badge for Pogo Bowl where you have to get 1 game at 200 or better. I am having great difficulty becoming good enough at Pogo bowling to get anywhere near there. I’ve been reading tips, studying screen shots and videos… nada, nothing, zilch. I’ve actually slammed the game shut a few times from frustration. Nothing fun about it and having an unfinished PBA will slay me. Lesson learned.

Hi all ~ was reading the comments. Quite interesting.
But I am here for help on how to contact pogo live. I did see it on the right hand side of this page but seems to be gone. Can anyone plz help me. Much appreciated.
Happy weekend all.

Like what most said it all depends on the game, if I like it, long is fine, if not, the shorter the better!
As a general rule I’d like the 2 badges to take about 3 hours total at most. This is especially true now that the personals I’m working on are from the early albums and are sooo long lol!

I’d be curious to know what the shortest time people have completed a badge in. I once got a monoply slots badge on the 1st spin! (definetly the exception not the rule lol!)

I find it very frustrating that some of the hidden objects to look for are hidden so close to the edges of the pictures in the HOG’S. Come on pogo, at least put the items farther from the edges. And by the way, get rid of the embeded games and go back to the original format. Why you embeded the games is beyond me, to say the least, I am NOT a happy camper.

I really didn’t like the new embedded games because they just didn’t work on my Internet Explorer but I loaded Google Chrome the other morning and what a difference. The Chrome works great! And I gotta say I love the fact that they have all your badges on the bottom of the page that you can look through and activate – Nice.

Off topic, but wondering if this has been happening to anyone else.
This has occured twice this month (that I know of). On 3/10 I got the badge “Gin for Two”, then activated “Good Luck Charms” (also, Jungle Gin Badge) and got it on 3/15…while playing it, “Gin for Two”, popped up as being won. I looked and it now has a “x2″ on it in “my badges”. I thought it was strange and didn’t think anymore about it until today when the same thing happened on two Perfect Pair Sol badges. On 3/23 got Love Connection and today while finishing Fallin’ 4U, Love Connection popped up again…and is showing a x2 on it, too. (I keep a spreadsheet, with badges won, active, and unearned—-no way either of these were activated at the same time)

I’m sure if anyone knows what is going on, someone here will! :) Hope all enjoy the rest of weekend. Stay safe, healthy, and ty Lura for this wonderful “wealth” of Pogo knowledge you manage to keep running so smoothly!

Success is mine!!! I had made a final plea for my gems OR asked for the mailing address to send proof to EA. I went to the mall for a few hours (and got some more EA cards). Upon my return, the gems were added to my account. I feel better now; pogo made it right!

…And in those 7 years, how many of us have unwanted items. Items that we have used once or twice – basically they just collect dust – so to speak!

There is no delete button, most things take while to scroll through and some you even forgot you had!

I remember in 2004, Pogo did a charity event around September time for Breast Cancer Awareness. The goal was to reach x amount of tokens set at 3 or 4 different tiers, plus it was the entire Pogo Community who contributed to the goal, just by playing!

A charity campaign is my idea, very similar to a clothing drive – but with backgrounds, goodies and of course the clothing. Donations would be welcome from all areas of the Mini Mall – tokens and gems. It would be a great way to clear the clutter!

for this weekend open thread I normally like quicker challenges, but IF i am Not ranked out in a game and it HAS ranks, then longer challenges there are fine. I usually try to work on as many badges at one time as possible. In answer to Cass (#61) about the shortest badge, I got one badge in a bingo game by joining the room when the game was almost finished and it only took about 20-25 seconds for a badge.

depends on the type of badge really. a weekly shouldnt take more that 2 hours at the most. mix and match badges usually takes me roundabout 3 days to get. premium badges i just take my time with since they almost always give you 3 weeks to do

I am more concerned about how attractive a badge is or if it is in a game I like than how long it takes. Short games, ie less than 1 hour, with ugly badges or non-favorite games and as much as 6-8 hours if it I like it!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Was sunny and light jacket weather today, so I took a ride to our nearest large city and scored 5 EA gift cards before the sale ended! Had lunch at Five Guys that has only been open locally for a month or so, yum yum, and brought home peanuts for the birds and squirrels.

Congratulations to anyone celebrating something significant this week. Smiles and a hug to anyone who needs them.

lurker #86. Yes, that has happened to me lately, too. I keep track of my stats, too, but I didn’t check on those that popped up again. But a few badges have popped up from a few days after I had completed them. I thought it was so strange. Next time it happens, I will check to see if it gave me a x#.

For me it depends on a few things, the first being the game its in. If it is one of my favorite games or one I am working on ranks in, then it could take 6 hours and I don’t care. If its a game I don’t enjoy then somewhere around an hour is ideal for me. I prefer M&M and PBA badges to be longer since there is usually a longer time frame for them. I like having to work for those badges a little bit.

TY, Faith #93, at least I know I’m not the only one. Thought, at first, what the “hay”, lol! Didn’t think to pay attention, wonder if we are getting extra tokens for “supposedly” completing the badges a second time?

I know this maybe a little off topic at first. But I just noticed it, just wanted to know if it has been going on awhile. I have won two badges on two different games that were game awards that said two different things. They were the right badges, but the wording was wrong. I am trying to rank out in Lottso Express, when I got to rank 35 up popped “congratulations I made rank 4″. I checked but it was the right badge. It happened on another game too, I think it was in Dice City Roller since I was on a marathon this weekend for about 10 badges…omg. If they are going to fix a game I nominate that one, it is so slow. Anybody else seen this? Or is this just been going on and I have been out of it? which is normal for me anyway….
As for weeklys a game is too hard when it takes hours and hours just to get it, like when you have to get a certain amount on a jackpot roll. I would prefer a game on skill than one of those. Sometimes I just give up. Or one that doesnt have ranks, at least let the weeklys use games that we can rank up on. Well that is my two cents worth.

any much over a 1 hour is too long..People have a life, beside pogo..most folk just want to unwine with a game they like. Not one someother person pick for them to have to do all week long, just to get a badge.

Thought I’d come and share that I won 20 gems in Everyone Wins Bingo last night. I know there is always controversy on if gems can be won (and how many) and in what games. It was my last game for my badge so I didn’t even see the spin right away because the badge window popped up. I just heard all of the streamers and horns, so quickly went back and saw “Pogo Gems”. Put me up to 34 so can get 2 of the new badges now. I know it’s only worth about $2, but it’s still something other than tokens & wallpaper :) LOL. Have a great Sunday everyone!!

I just finished the Brain Power mix badge in Trivial Pursuit. it took me days, and I didnt enjoy it. I am a badge addict, have spent thousands over 9 years, have more than one account. I am willing to learn new games, but don`t care for long challenges. Pogo seems to change things frequently. I wish Pogo would let us have the same amount of tokens if we do a challenge over! both the mix and album badges cost us, why not get the tokens? I think it would be more fair. does anyone agree with me? Thanks and good luck badge hunting!

Lou #104 – The reason that we get less tokens when we redo a premium badge is b/c when they were first offered you used your tokens to enter the drawings. Pogo decreased the token amount each time you redid the badge so that members could not basically “buy” tokens. They explained it all back in 2005 when they released the first Premium Album.

The problem with changing it now is that “some” members would jump up and down b/c they didn’t get full tokens when they redid the badge.

Would I like all my premium badges reset back to the original amount? You bet I would, but don’t think it’s ever going to happen.

I am not fond of the timed badges either.The ones for Dice City Roller and Mahjong Garden drove me crazy, Also, I still can’t get the Poppitt clear the screen twice one. I’ve tried, but I got down to a few hours left with only one done on the first day.

Suz-#106 thank you for your input, but some confusion here. I didnt enter any drawing, and have completed all weekly badges for every year, with the exception of one, this year. Pogo can do whatever they choose and I know they can change this token amount without anyone losing anything. Perhaps I worded it wrong, instead of anything changing in the past, the new albums/M&M challenges could be redesigned in the future? I think this is an important issue and should be addressed by Pogo, not to change the past, but to improve the future. I do not even need tokens, it is just the principle of buying an album, or a Mix badge and wanting the same amount of tokens, like the weeklies. I am a true-blue badge hound=some challenges I dont care for, but do them anyway. I agree with someone who mentioned in this thread, that if the badge is better looking, or applies to one of many of my favorite games, I will buy it. Thank you for taking the time to explain it, but I really do want the future to change about token amount for challenges. Nothing can be done about the past. I look forward to token changes in the future!

Hi all! Man, it has been busy around my house lately. I agree with everything Joe C. (#42) said about badge lengths. I think badges need to take from one hour to two hours to do on most weeks. I am working on the 20 wins with Dice Derby. I am exhausted from winning almost every round and the computer winning at the last minute and that is with a friend helping me with some sabotage when they can. If Pogo does any more Dice Derby badges they must be by points or tokens not wins! Any slot games badges should be luck one or twice a year, the rest should be token based. Have a great week all!
~Jenna (purplyesterday6)

I don’t usually grumble over badges but the yahtzee badge for get 6 yahtzee’s with 6′s really irritated me. It’s hard enough to get a yahtzee, let alone 6 of them with the same #. The fact they repeated it the next year was insult to injury.

Anything in monopoly slots requiring you to land on a certain spot is pure evil.

Any rated game is pure evil.

As far as that risk badge went, I think a more appropriate starter badge for the game would’ve been conquer X amount of territories or play 2 games. Not win 2 games. The game is so long to begin with that minimum amount of time for it was like 3 hours if you were lucky.

As for length of badge, 1-2 hours is entirely reasonable. If it’s a luck based game/challenge, pick a LOW number for the challenge.

And preferably choose games with ranks or that are at least popular/easy to learn. Although I’m still laughing that I can get euchre badges and not have a clue how to play.

A variety of games is also necessary. Seems some games are totally avoided for being given challenges while others are flooded in badges.

Theres any number of choices for badges boardwalk seaball could get. Shoot down X number of ducks or get a perfect streak in the duck or clam slam rounds (reasonably easy rounds). Score X amount of points in the coral corral, or get X amount of perfect rounds. Hit X amount of 25 or 50 point clams. (Yes I enjoy boardwalk seaball and wish there were more badges to get in it.)

I don’t like when the weekly badges take too long and agree with most here that 1 hour is a nice length. If the weekly badges take days to get then it seems like I don’t have time to play the games that I enjoy and initially came to pogo for. The premium badges can take a little longer since we are paying for them and can pick and choose the ones we want for the most part. I don’t mind if there are a couple tough ones in an album but they need to be doable. Ahemmm you all know what I’m talking about lol. I haven’t bought that album specifically because of that challenge. I try to look at the challenges in the albums before I buy them since I have limited funds and want to make sure they are games I enjoy. All though it is hard to find an album that has every single game being one I like lol. Ok now I think I’m just babbling lol basically I don’t like the weeklys to be too hard and the premiums can take a little more time since we choose them. Have a great weekend everyone!

Hi all, Happy April Fool’s Day! How long should a badge take? Well, it depends on the game and what players have to do to get the badge. The amount of time should be reasonable, not 5 minute quickies but not ones that take days or weeks to complete. Need a happy balance.

Even though I buy every badge offered and all premium albums and I am retired, I think an hour is sufficient time to earn a badge. Since I pay for the badge, it should not take a marathon to complete. We pay to earn/win a badge… lol. More than an hour to win a badge cuts down on rank badge pursuit in all the other games I have not ranked out in yet. I don’t buy “Joe C’s” philosophy either. Please forgive me. No offense intended, just my opinion.
Have a great weekend.

now serving # 98
on the cribbbage tip:
use 4 player game rooms and do private games or check no player can join once a game has started.
moms posted this on the last cribbage challenge that was given out
i too struggled with that game. now i can actually play and win and get the badge! thanks moms! and good luck katie!

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